ANNA SIGNEUL was predictably delighted with the outcome of yesterday's Euro 2017 draw in Nyon - one which, on paper, gives Scotland the best chance of playing in a major championship final since the men's team played in France in 1998.
Gordon Strachan's side could lay that one to rest by qualifying for the 2016 Euros, but had Signeul selected the teams out of the pots herself she would have been hard pushed to come up with a more benign Group 1 outcome. Iceland were the eighth and final seeds in Pot A; similarly Belarus in Pot C. In Pot D, Slovenia were seventh seeds, while Macedonia are ranked 37th of the 40 qualifiers.
"We are very happy with the draw," said Signeul, who was present to agree the fixtures with representatives of the other four countries. Iceland, at 20th, are just one place ahead of Scotland in the FIFA rankings and Signeul's aim must now be to win the group - although even finishing second should be enough as all but one of the runners-up qualify for the finals in the Netherlands.
The women's side have only ever played Iceland of the other four nations, winning a friendly 3-2 in Reykjavik almost two years ago. Nevertheless, despite having failed to qualify for this summer's World Cup, the Icelanders held the United States to a draw in March and beat the Netherlands 2-1 earlier this month.
Most of their squad play in Norway and Sweden, while two others play for Liverpool and Bayern Munich. Their star is striker Margret Lara Vidarsdottir, who has scored 71 goals in 94 internationals and recently returned to the team following the birth of her first child.
"She is a really good player, but the fact that so many of the squad are playing professionally outside Iceland shows that Iceland are very tough opponents," Signeul said.
"They had a new coach in the World Cup qualifiers, but their recent results have shown they are getting stronger again. They are athletic and tactically astute.
"We will play Iceland at home in June next year, and then our last game will be away to them in September. Hopefully, that will be the group final."
The only downside for Signeul's team is that there isn't a crowd-puller among the other teams, but that is more than offset by the outstanding opportunity to be playing in Holland in 2017.
"They are not big football countries - apart from Iceland they are not even big women's football countries," Signeul admitted. "We need to sell these games on people getting behind the team as we try to qualify for our first ever major championship final.
"Now we know the dates, we will ask the clubs to tender for hosting the home games. We would like to play in Glasgow or Edinburgh, because that's where we think we will get the biggest crowds."
Hearts and Hibs are likely to be among the clubs interested in staging the qualifiers.
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